New Delhi, February 26
Four children, including a girl, aged from 9-12 were killed when a 3-ft-high brick wall fell over them from the fifth floor of an under-construction building at Suman Colony in Chhattarpur Extension, this morning.

The children are identified as Monu (9), Nitin (11), and two siblings -- Divya (9) and Gaurav (12). They were playing carrom board in an enclosure outside their houses, adjacent to the under-construction building. They lived in an area enclosed with walls, which consists of 11 houses.

The wall fell over them from the top-most floor of an adjacent building about 10.30 am.

Some labourers were constructing the wall when the incident occurred.

The children were rushed to Safdarjung Hospital and AIIMS Trauma Centre. They were declared 'brought dead'.

Monu was a student of class III at Nagar Nigam Public School. He lived with his father Vinod Tiwari, mother Kiran Devi, brother Sonu (15) and sister Gudiya (17). His father is an auto-rickshaw driver.

Divya studied in class III at APG Public School. Her brother, Gaurav, was a class VI student of Acharya Tulsi Sarvodya Bal Vidyalaya. They lived with their mother Meenakshi and father Raju, who is a waiter and a pan card agent.

Nitin was a class III student of Sohan Rai Public School. He is survived by his younger sister Richa and parents Nirmala and Arvind Gautam, who is a driver with the Delhi Transport Corporation (DTC).

New Delhi, February 26
It was a Sunday morning and a break from school for four friends who were playing carrom board at a small enclosure outside their houses at Suman Colony in Chattarpur Extension.

Engrossed in their game, they were probably oblivious to their surroundings. A few moments later, a 3-ft high brick wall fell over them from atop an under-construction building, which is adjacent to their houses.

The four children, Monu, Nitin, and two siblings - Divya and Gaurav, were bleeding profusely and lying senseless under the rubble. They were rushed to a nearby hospital in auto-rickshaws that were hired by their frantic parents. The ambulances only reached their houses after they had left.

A witness at the residential colony said that Divya's brains were splattered on the floor. The bricks that had fallen from the building were stained with blood. The carrom board lay buried under the bloodied clothes and the rubble.

Meenakshi, the mother of Divya and Gaurav, recalled the incident as she shut her eyes in anguish. "I was washing my clothes in the bathroom. I heard a loud noise and rushed outside to see what had happened. I saw my two children lying under the rubble that fell from the under-construction building. I could only take one of them to the hospital. So, I grabbed my daughter Divya and rushed her to the Safdarjung hospital in an auto-rickshaw. I left my son behind with my landlord, Baldev Singh's son," she said.

According to Meenakshi, the doctors were apathetic in treating her daughter. "When I reached the gates of the hospital, the security guard shouted at me for not being able to take care of my daughter. I then took her inside, where I finally found a doctor. He said that he won't touch her because she is part of a police case. He pushed her aside and ignored me. I tried pleading with him, but he was laughing and talking to his friends," said Meenakshi.

She curses Baldev's son when she remembers telephoning him to ask about Gaurav. She said that he told her that Gaurav was fine. But, when she reached her residence, she saw her son lying in a pool of blood on the muddy ground.

Nitin's mother, Nirmala also recalled her horror. She said that there was considerable lapse of time when she took her son to the Safdarjung hospital and when the doctors checked him.

"If they had treated him, he could have been saved. I begged them to see my son, but they were negligent in performing their duties. One day they will suffer like I have," she said.

New Delhi, February 26
After four children were killed when a wall from an under-construction building at Chattarpur Extension fell over them this morning, local residents claimed that the landlord bribed the police and the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) to continue his several unauthorised and illegal constructions in the locality.

Ashok Gupta, a resident of Suman Colony in Chattarpur Extension, where the wall of the under-construction building collapsed over the four children said, "The landlord of the under-construction building, Baldev Singh, had bribed the MCD and the police. He has constructed many such buildings in the locality after bribing them. Chattarpur colony is an unauthorised locality."

Rishi Ram, a social worker at Suman Colony claims that the police and the civic agency, MCD are hand in glove with wealthy landlords based in the same locality.

However, according to MCD officials, the area executive engineer had written to the higher authorities on January 6 this year to complain about the illegal construction of the building (D-27).

The agency planned to take action under Section of 344 of the DMC Act against the illegal construction on February 29.

But, the day for the action became late when tragedy struck today.

Four children died when a wall from the fifth floor of the under-construction building fell on top of them. The victims are identified as Monu (9), Divya (9), her brother Gaurav (12) and Nitin (11).

A case under Section 288 (Negligent conduct with respect to pulling down or repairing buildings) and Section 304A (causing death by negligence) of the Indian Penal Code has been registered at the Mehrauli police station.

The police has arrested the builder, Sandeep Saini, a resident of Khirki Extension and labour contractor, Sahil.

The both were arrested this evening. The owner of the property, Baldev Singh, a resident of Chattarpur village, would be arrested as well.

Greater Noida, February 26
The anti-land acquisition agitation in May last year in the volatile Bhatta-Parsaul area had made Rahul Gandhi to take on UP Chief Minister and BSP supremeo Mayawati. This explains why he had started his election campaign in Gautam Budh district from Jewar by scheduling his poll meeting in Jewar.

In Jewar the stakes are higher for the Congress where the twin villages of Bhatta and Parsaul are located.

All the important members of the Congress young brigade - Jayant Chaudhary of RLD, Congress MP from Haryana Deependra Hudda and union minister Sachin Pilot had accompanied the Congress scion on his first meaningful election campaign.

Because of Rahul's trysts with Bhatta and Parsaul villages, Jewar became "a mini battle ground between the Centre and the state".

A few days the Bhatta-Parsaul incident, Rahul took a group of local farmers for a meeting with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and accused personnel of the state police of killing farmers and raping the village women. The state government denied the allegations and accused Congress leaders of "theatrics and petty politics".

In July, Rahul took out a padyatra from Bhatta and Parsaul villages. According to the Congress, Rahul had gathered inputs for a new land acquisition bill that the Centre plans to introduce in Parliament. But the challenge for Rahul is not going to be easy.

It was over 25 years ago that the Congress had won this seat in 1985 elections. After that it has been Mayawati's BSP that has won the seat in the past two elections.

One of the three assembly constituencies in Gautam Budh Nagar district, Jewar has about three lakh voters with almost equal shares from Dalit, Thakur, Gurjar, Bramhin and Muslim communities. Jaats also have substantial presence in the constituency.

The Congress has fielded Thakur Dhirendra Singh from Jewar who has been rewarded for his loyalty to Rahul during the Bhatta movement. JD (U) has fielded Manveer Singh Tevatia, presently in jail for the Bhatta-Parsaul violence. He is something of a local hero, Rahul's role and image notwithstanding.

After a bloody clash between the police and farmers at Bhatta and Parsaul villages in May, Rahul held a day long dharna against the UP government's land acquisition policy.

The UP police had arrested and let Rahul Gandhi off at night.

Various Central agencies have rallied behind Rahul and put pressure on the state government, leading to registering of a number of FIRs against 
policemen for Bhatta "atrocities". During his recent rallies, Rahul has raked up the Bhatta-Parsaul issue time and again to corner Mayawati.

Noida, February 26
Akhilesh Yadav, the Samajwadi Party (SP) youth leader and son of Mulayam Singh Yadav, being aware that his party has a legacy of crime in the state, is using the development plank and swearing that curbing the crime and corruption will be the top priority of his party after forming the next government in UP.

Along with these, he used efficient policing as his trump cards to lure voters while addressing a rally in Noida yesterday.

Akhilesh and Mulayam received sort of a support from an unexpected quarter, the young BJP leader and another scion of the Gandhi family, Varun Gandhi, who today said that he expected the SP to emerge as the single largest party in UP.

"We will install CCTV cameras on each pole of Noida and equip police force with latest technology, besides training them to deliver better law and order, which has been derailed across the state due to the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), said Akhilesh, who is known to have modernised the SP's poll tactics and strategy.

He said that people of UP are looking for a change and the SP was the only option.

"The BSP has looted Noida to fill its coffers. Mayawati is the only Chief Minister in the world to put up her statues while alive. Development and better governance will be the core agenda of my party and believe me, we will form the government," said Akhilesh.

In a bid to attract Muslim votes, he assured implementation of the Sachar Committee and Rangnath Mishra report to uplift the minority community. "All madrassas will be aided and strengthened. School students will work in Urdu and Hindi with laptops given by our party", he added.

Regarding property ownership rights in Noida, he promised to convert leasehold to freehold. Lashing out at the BSP and the Congress, Alhilesh said, "Mayawati has erected only her elephant statues all across the state and Noida. A city that should have been the epicentre of development with flyovers and underpasses is today a city of statues."

He added, "A corruption-free SP government will set up industry in Noida to provide employment opportunity to young people. Until each youth gets employment, we will give them wages".

Noida, February 26
The Delhi-Mumbai Industrial Development Corporation (DMICDC), UP Power Corporation Ltd, (UPPCL) and Noida and Yamuna Expressway Authorities have formed a corporation to set up a 2000-MW power generation plant at Greater Noida.

The state government has already approved it in principle.

Ten lakh tones of PNG has been demanded from the Centre and150 cusec of water will be supplied from Ganga Canal for the project.

Noida Power Company Limited (NPCL), which distributes power in Greater Noida, has planned a 400-MW gas-based power plant. Around 40 acres at Jauan Samana village, near Vaidpura, had been allotted to the NPCL over a decade ago. The total cost of the project is Rs 2,000 crore.

The plant is expected to meet the entire energy requirement of industries in Noida, Greater Noida and areas around the Yamuna Expressway.

The DMICDC has agreed to share 50% of the total power generated with the state. The rest will be sold through an open access regime. The state government will not invest any money in the project.

The DMICDC has already conducted a pre-feasibility report of the plant site. The report has been accepted by the UP government. More than 500 acres owned by the Cane Cooperative Society, Jahangirpur, is available in Greater Noida.

The NPCL plans to develop the plant in two phases. In the first phase, a 200-MW plant is projected to be completed by 2014 and in the next phase, another 200 MW plant is expected to be ready by 2016.

Two major projects for setting up substations have been held up due to the farmers' agitation. One substation is proposed in Sector 148. It will take two years to complete.

"If the construction does not start in the next few months, residents along the expressway will experience long power cuts in 2014. Areas along the expressway are fast developing and power requirement will rise spirally," said a senior official, Krishan Singh.

Ghaziabad, February 26
The police has registered cases against four MBBS third year students for their alleged involvement in a case of ragging at a private medical college here.

The students, including one named Nitin, were booked under the state anti-ragging act on a complaint filed by victim Atshay Yadav, a second year student of Santosh Medical College, who accused them of physically torturing him in the hostel on February 22 and 23, the police said.

Medical examination of the victim is being conducted and further probe into the matter is on, it said. — PTI

New Delhi, February 26
The vehicular population of the city has reached a stage where it cannot be controlled, Rajya Sabha Opposition leader Arun Jaitley said today. According to him only a strong public transport system can discourage citizens from taking out their own vehicles.

"In European countries, especially Britain, even the elected representatives of the highest House prefer to use public transport like metro," said the minister while speaking at the inaugural ceremony of a multi-level parking lot in the E-Block market of Hauz Khaz.

The three-level underground parking lot, constructed at a cost of Rs 31.4 crore, has a capacity of 360 cars. Jaitley said growth in population and economic activities had put a pressure on the services and the city needed infrastructural improvements.

Jaitley hinted at creating 'No vehicle zones' for a better management of the traffic in the city. He emphasised the need of such zones in the city, especially in commercial areas like Connaught Place, South Extension etc. He explained that the congested commercial areas like these should be made 'no vehicle zones'. According to him, a community parking needed to be developed in a nearby location where the citizens can park their vehicles and use public transport to reach the congested commercial places.

"Besides, regulations for traffic movements need to be evolved for the areas declared 'no vehicle zones' and the traffic management of the area should be done accordingly," he said.

He further said that a mass rapid public transport system was also needed by the city so that the citizens could be discouraged for using private vehicles.

Delhi Mayor Arti Mehra said parking lots were being developed at Model Town, Kamla Nagar and Munirka and would be opened for public in a shortly. She appealed to the citizens to construct stilt parking spaces so that more and more space is created for parking. She said that the MCD would like to encourage the construction of such parking spaces by providing rebate in property tax for such houses.

The parking would be opened for the public on March 1, 2012 free of cost on a trial basis so that the users can get used to the services and the system. Eventually, a contractor for parking would be appointed by the MCD, she said, adding that a tree-plantation drive would also be launched.

New Delhi, February 26
Noting that public safety is paramount, the Delhi High Court has allowed the Railways and authorities of the city government to go ahead with the construction of a foot-over bridge (FOB) at a residential colony here.

A bench of Acting Chief Justice AK Sikri and Justice Rajiv Sahai Endlaw, while dismissing a petition filed by a group of persons claiming the land in Harkesh Nagar residential colony, upheld the single judge's order dismissing their plea on January 31.

"The Railways deemed it necessary in the interest of safety of the public residing in neighbourhood of the railways tracks to construct a FOB at the said site, the said developmental activity in the larger public interest could not be interfered by the court," the bench said.

The court also rejected petitioner's argument that this very court had earlier dismissed a plea for FOB construction and it should restrain the Railways, Government of NCT of Delhi, MCD and DDA from raising construction of the structure.

"The Railways' stand in the earlier writ petition was as per the then prevailing situation. However, if the experience of five years since then has shown that the rail tracks at the said place cannot be continuously manned/supervised to prevent people from crossing over endangering their lives, and in view thereof the Railways themselves have taken a decision to construct the FOB with financial assistance from local MPLAD fund no error can be found in the said decision," it said.

The court accepted the Railways argument that the shops of the petitioners are within the boundary of railway land and those were unauthorised occupation and encroachment.

The boundary wall was repeatedly damaged by residents for crossing rail tracks from the said point, endangering their lives, the Railways said.

"This court cannot look at the interest of the appellants petitioners only disregarding the interest of the general public and other residents of the colony. Weighed in the said light, no case for restraining the respondents from forcibly dispossessing the appellants petitioners is also made out," the bench said. — PTI

New Delhi, February 26
The Delhi High Court has ruled that a wife, though separated, is entitled to maintenance depending on her husband's financial position.

"A life on alimony is not to be a life different from what the wife would have led if the relationship had not gone sour. The quantum of maintenance inter alia depends upon the status of the husband," a division bench of acting Chief Justice AK Sikri and Justice Rajiv Sahai Endlaw said.

It rejected the argument that if a husband provided food and shelter after a separation, he owed nothing more to his wife.

"The women, even when rarely going out of the house and when the entire expense of the household was met by the husband, were still found entitled to an amount for their own spending. In certain regions, the said amount also went by the name of "Hath Kharch" (pin money)," the bench observed.

Noting that money is required to fulfill the other day-to-day needs, including that of clothing, entertainment and personal effects of the wife, the court said: "It is unbelievable that if the relations had been good, the husband if had been providing boarding and lodging, would not have provided anything further to the wife."

The court passed the judgment while raising the monthly maintenance amount of a woman, who is a housewife with no other source of income, from Rs 60,000 per month to Rs 1,50,000.

The couple, with two children, got married in 1981 and was subsequently separated, but was living in the same house. The woman moved the high court challenging a family court ruling which fixed the monthly maintenance at Rs 60,000.

In 2002, the husband had agreed to pay Rs 1,50,000 per month to his wife. However, he stopped the payments after four months and his wife approached the family court.

Declining to give further maintenance the husband, a well-qualified doctor and businessman, had contended that he was looking after all the financial needs of his wife and as such she did not require any maintenance.

He further contended that he had deposited Rs 2 crore in the court for his wife in a dispute relating to the partnership of hotel Marina, in which she had an 8 per cent share.

He also alleged that his wife also owned a 1,000 sq. yards plot in Faridabad.

The wife had predicated her claim at Rs 1,50,000 per month on the basis of the 2002 agreement, that she was not working and had no other source of income.

The bench cited a Supreme Court judgment reiterating that the test to be applied is to place the wife in the same position as she would have been if the relationship had continued. — IANS

New Delhi, February 26
Using electrical appliances at a time when power is available at cheapest price, sounds almost impossible. But the steps being taken by the Delhi Electricity Regulatory Commission's (DERC), it would soon be a reality, at least for people Delhi.

On its way to introducing a smart metering system which would enable consumers to make informed choices about electricity use based on varying cost and availability. To begin with, the metering system will be installed for around 2,500-3,000 commercial power users.

Providing a two-way benefit, the technology will put an effective demand response mechanism through which consumers will be able to save money on power consumption, whereas on the other hand, the discoms will be able cut down power purchase cost as price of power goes up during peak hours.

The Advanced Metering Infrastructure (AMI), which is widely used in the USA and European countries, will be installed to facilitate a two-way wireless communication between consumers and power distribution utilities.

Through the initiative, first of its kind in the entire country, consumers will get real-time information about price of power depending on availability and procurement cost and accordingly they will have the option of shifting energy consumption, like running water pump or using washing machines, to non-peak hours.

"We have decided in principle to introduce the advanced metering system which will empower the consumers to voluntarily decide on their power consumption based on price of power, availability and load factor," DERC chairman PD Sudhakar.

Officials said that the advanced metering technology would provide customers detailed power consumption data and help them in managing consumption pattern while utilities, would be able shift to a more reliable smart grid technology which will help them control power theft and bring down power purchase cost.

The DERC had already the major stakeholders like power distribution companies and industrial consumers who hailed the initiative terming it as encouraging and acceptable.

"Initially we are planning to involve the industrial consumers having a load of 300 KW and above. We do not want to impose it on anybody," Sudhakar. Issues like who will incur cost of AMI and making the distribution network compatible with the proposed metering system are being finalised. They said all power utilities have been told to analyse their power purchase data for the past five years where they had to resort to buy costly power to meet demand to arrive at the number of instances and durations for which they resorted to short-term power purchase and undertaken load shedding under distress situations.

New Delhi, February 26
Two persons were today arrested for allegedly abducting a property dealer from Karawal Nagar, murdering him and then dumping the body in a well at Gulaothi in Uttar Pradesh.

The accused have been identified as Harinder Singh and Vikash (24).

On May 26, 2010, a woman named Laxmi reported that her son Ajay, a property dealer, had been missing since one night ago. A missing persons report was lodged at the Karawal Nagar police station. Later, after about two months, she lodged an abduction report at the same police station.

The police started investigating the matter and learnt that a robber named Karan, alias Chotu Pehalwan, had a dispute with Ajay. It was learnt that Ajay used to pass inputs about Karan's movements to the police. This had led to the arrest of members of Karan's gang.

The gang members had conspired to kill Ajay. The police this morning arrested Rinku and Vicky.

The two told the police that a gang of four men had taken Ajay in its Alto car. They had strangulated him and dumped the body in a well in Gulaothi. The local police had recovered the body on May 31, 2010 from the well.

Rinku, Vicky and two more persons-- Upender and Vinod-had abducted Ajay. They had killed him. The body was dumped in a dry well in Kulli Bhatona village, Gulaothi, Bulandshahr. Ajay was abducted on May 26, 2010.

Vicky and Vinod are brothers. To avoid police suspicion, after the murder, Karan had gone to jail against a warrant. The police is searching for Vinod and Upender.

Ghaziabad, February 26
The police in Ghaziabad arrested two Nigerian nationals yesterday for allegedly duping a local trader of at least Rs 4.5 lakh in an internet lottery scam.

The police said it initiated action after receiving a complaint from a trader that he had been cheated by some unidentified persons who told him that he had won a huge sum through internet lottery.

Initially, the cheats demanded a few thousand rupees as processing charge for the payment of the prize money, then increased the demand to lakhs of rupees and finally reached a figure of 550,000 British pounds (Rs 4.30 crore).

On a tip-off, the police nabbed the Nigerians from the railway crossing near GT Road. During interrogation, they confessed to their crime and revealed their identities as Namdi Navakez and Prince Benjamin.

The police recovered Rs 4,20,000 and 200 US dollars, two data cards, five mobile phones, two laptops, one Opel Corsa car and a bundle of counterfeit US dollars.

"We have booked them under various sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and the IT Act," said Rajesh Bharti, circle officer I of the Ghaziabad police. — PTI